The Orlando Mass Shooting has revived calls for a ban on Muslims entering the US while reinforcing the perception that terrorism is a product of Islam. The murder of British politician Jo Cox over her pluralist views and anti-Brexit stance, however, serves as an example of a terrorist act committed by someone with connections to the Neo-Nazi extremist group National Alliance. It is easy to assume that terrorism is the product of Islam and Muslims are inherently violent Peoples, but it is important to differentiate between violent tendencies and circumstances. The Muslim Peoples are no more violent than other people.
For Westerners, it is easy to forget widespread terrorism, war, and violent crime thrived as a part of our daily life only decades ago. Even today, violent crime continues to be prevalent in neglected corners of Western society, e.g. inner city neighborhoods. In remote areas of the US and other countries, there are “mountain man" and "hillbillies" who have no qualms about using violence. There are those who would even shoot someone for supposedly “trespassing," i.e. an unknown person walking on their land, and feel their actions were thoroughly rational. They would even see their arrest and incarceration as outrageous and unprovoked.
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The Orlando Shootings have evoked a great deal of empathy and sympathy as the nation unites in solitary against violence. Aside from the normal pro-gun, pro-gun control politics that tend to overshadow these events, there are a number of uncomfortable social issues that need to be discussed. After all, a Muslim shooter, who proclaimed his loyalty to the Islamic State terrorist group, attacked a gay bar. To heal and unite as a nation to discourage future violence, the underlying culture clash and hatred, which inspired the targeting of the gay community, must be discussed. Only by confronting uncomfortable issues will violence be condemned by all.
If the Orlando Shootings had taken place at a bar, instead of a gay bar, the fact that it was the deadliest mass shooting by one person in US history would have garnered a fair amount of attention from the media, even if it was just another bar shooting. Had the massacre involved a Christian, even if the shooter had pledged his loyalty to an extremist groups like the KKK or the Aryan Nations, the focus would not be on terrorism. It would be on the individual’s motivation, where it should be in this case. The victims of the Orlando Massacre may have been gay and the perpetrator may have been Muslim, but the reason for his choice is what matters. Business, politics, and public opinion tend to be an explosive combination. Where the role of government is to balance the economic interests of workers, innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, and corporations through sound public policies, unhealthy competition between these various interests groups is often the cause of improper governance. In Latin America, the ideological conflict between capitalism and socialism of the Cold War rages on. The sharp divide hinders the ability of government to balance the economic interests of their nations and Peoples. Facing bitter political rivalries, these countries are hotbeds for political and economic instability.
In Brazil, for example, widespread corruption and conspiracies have resulted in a political crisis that inhibits economic reforms. Acting President Michel Temer cannot hope to blunt the economic and political troubles of the South American nation. For violating campaign laws himself, Temer cannot run for public office for eight years. As the ultimate lame duck President, Temer’s capacity to govern is limited to managing Dilma Rousseff’s policies and ushering in new elections. Whether Rousseff returns or a new President takes office when elections are eventually held, Temer’s austerity and privatization agenda will be reversed. US Global Leadership Starts in the Americas: Building a Twenty-First Century World Order6/10/2016 If the United States hopes to provide constructive global leadership in the Twenty-First Century, no matter who is the next US President, it must start by building strong, mutually beneficial partnerships with its neighbors. After all, the US cannot hope to lead on a global scale, unless it can do so in its own hemisphere. Unfortunately, the Americas have experienced a cycle of abusive interference and negligent disengagement under both Republican and Democratic Administrations. The harms done by an erratic, often self-serving US has forced many in the Americas to believe they are better off without US involvement.
While the United States has used its superpower status in a more benign manner than past imperial powers would have, the US Empire created many problems and many more grievances around the world by suppressing the interests of weaker nations and their Peoples. This is particularly true in the Middle East and South America. In places like Venezuela and Brazil, for example, US business interests have done little out of enriching the already affluent and exploiting the Peoples while the US government demonstrates a lack respect for the public policy and leadership choices of these Peoples when they have conflicted with US interests. |
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April 2020
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